Double Sided Blade
by Clockworker
Summary: <html><head></head>A famous player of the Sword Art Online game had completed it, leaving everyone to question what had truly happen. One player that was over looked knows exactly what happened in the lower levels during the chaotic madness that was Sword Art Online. How Laughing Coffin was created, what underground organizations came to be and other beings. Main paring is Liz/OC as will the focus.</html>
1. Chapter 1: Logging In

**Hey, thak you so much for giving this story a chance and please to leave review, favorite or fallow if you like his story!**

**I do not own SAO but I do own the new characters you will see**

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><p>"Hi there! Time for this week's MMO Stream. You just saw a promo of today's featured game. And this is what last week's launch day looked like. Can you guess what everyone's waiting in line? Sword Art Online!"<p>

A clicking sound filled the small room while the video kept playing. The source was coming from the owner of the little room. He was a sophomore in his high school, about fifth-teen. He was tapping his lighter on top of his wooden desk as the video played, unsuccessfully keeping his attention. He was looking forward to summer since he was accepted as a Beta Tester for Sword Art Online and promised a copy of the final product, which came into the mail just today.

He didn't look like the gaming type with the first glance at him. He stood at five feet and two inches, about four inches shorter than he's supposed to be. He looked to be starving himself thanks to his skinny limbs and hardly visible ribcage. He head inky black hair that was slightly untamed, covering his ears slightly and covering most of his face, only allowing most of his left side of his face to been seen. His bangs were dyed dark blue that matched his dull blue eyes. He needed glasses if he wanted to see normally and of course that build up the list of reasons he was picked on by the jocks.

He looked over to his NerveGear sitting next to his alarm clock. He was tempted to just start playing now. His eyes gazed over to the picture of him and younger sister, when she was six and when he was ten. He let out a little smile when he remembered his sister and mother were going to be here soon. He shared the small house with his father, his whole family was from America and had moved to Japan for his father's ease to getting to work in the high corporal empire in electronics.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a loud thud from outside his door, it being the front door closing and locking. He was now alone in the house for the next six hours. The American smiled towards the NerveGear, looking at the time to see he had plenty of time to do some level grinding and get a head start on the game.

He started the game up on his monitor, closing up the video, and jumped out of the computer chair, landing on his bed. He quickly plugged in his NerveGear to his computer's tower and slipped off his large glasses. He moved his hair out of the way as he placed the helmet on, lying down on the sheets and hearing it start up. He grinned once a minute passed, the right time for the NerveGear to have finished warming up. With a low and almost tired voice he turned the helmet on.

"Link start."

With a buzzing sound his vision grew slightly weak before millions of color flashed at his eyes and the NerveGear now turning off his mobility. His eye quickly darted at the option's menus, logging in and selecting English as his language. Another white flash filled his eyes before he blinked it away, now seeing a knee a foot close to a brick floor.

He slowly stood, now towering at a six foot two. He gripped onto his brown leather gloves and stomped his black spiked combat boots. He looked down and saw he was going to be stuck with the level one red tunic and armor. He shrugged, knowing he was going to start somewhere and started to stretch a little, letting his eyes adjust and see the hub up the left corner. He noticed that they updated the hub, the health bar no longer being red but now green and the word font for his name was much nice. His screen name was plastered on the name tag; Rotsen.

Rotsen grinned as he let a hand run through his untamed, dark blue hair before running into the town before him, ignoring the newer or Beta Testers walking in. He had a task to complete, that being getting to the best place for grinding on the first level and buy the right equipment he was going to need.

He zoomed past dozens of players socializing, telling the deference between Beat Testers and noobs easily. He didn't take the time to pay attention to the girl he knocked into, making all the ores and hammer fall onto the ground.

"Hey, watch it!" She cried out as she rubbed her head, obviously ticked off.

"Ugh, sorry about that." Rotsen couldn't help but apologize, knowing it was his fault. "Here, let me,"

"No, I got it,"

The two started to bicker over the mess, Rotsen trying to be nice and pick up his mess but the girl was persistent and not wanted his help. The two kept the little argument until he helped her up and handed her the ores that were scattered. Once he was done he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry about that."

He looked down to her, now getting a good chance to look her over. Her character was a few inches shorter than him and with short brown hair . She was in red level one armor and tunic with a default sword on her side. The only thing that caught his attention was the blacksmith hammer in her hands and her eyes, which were a piercing pink.

The girl was a little red faced from embarrassment and tried to act cool, not wanting to look like a damsel in distress. "Well you should, I mean really, what rush is there to aimlessly run around."

Rotsen couldn't help but feel a little ticked since he did help her. "For your information I know where I'm going, and by the looks of it you're not. Wasting a lot of money on ores and hammer."

"Well _you_ should know this is all for me to become this game's best blacksmith!" She went up to the tips of her toes, getting up in his face and catching him off guard.  
>"And where are you going anyways?"<p>

"What's it to you?"

"Well you seem to know where you're going and I'm curious."

An annoyed look was plastered on Rotsen's face, obviously not liking her attitude towards him. "You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you?"

"As hell I will," she answered back, the look in her eyes telling him he was cornered.

With a sigh Rotsen caved in, predicting it best to give her what she wants so she wouldn't bother him. "I'm a Beta Tester and I'm heading for a good place for me to start level grinding."

She kept her stare on him, waiting for her to do something. It wasn't until a moment later until she spoke again. "Will you take me there?"

"Why would I do that?"

"I could tell you're a nice guy, since you did help me out so maybe you can help me again."

Rotsen raised an eyebrow at her, asking if she was serious. She gave him a soft smile but it still felt cold and hard to him. He sighed, now repeating himself.

"You're not going to leave me along until I take you?"

"What do you think?" She flashed a much more mischievous smile, making his eyes widen slightly.

Another moment passed as they continued to stand in the middle of the market section of the Town of Beginnings. Rotsen didn't break eye contact with her until he thought he started to weigh his options.

"Try to keep up then!" He flashed her with his famous devil smile, catching her surprise. He ran past her, running down the street and stopped after he passed a few stands. "You coming or what!?"

"Wait up!" She cried out as she put all the ores and hammer into her inventory and ran after him. She struggled for a moment, tripping over her feet and grabbing Rotsen for support. He didn't have time to react, falling with her and crashing back onto the ground.

"Ugh, is this going to a normal thing now?" Rotsen asked, rubbing his head.

"Hope not, uh… I never caught your name."

The American had a smile back on as he stood up, holding out his hand to the female player. "Names Rotsen. What's yours?"

She looked at the hand a little uneasy before grabbing it, letting him help her. "Lisbeth, but my friends call me Liz."

"So I can you Liz?"

"No, you're not my friend yet." Lisbeth couldn't help but tease him, thinking it was funny to see him having that annoyed look on his face.

"Guess friends only show friends good grinding spots." Rotsen shot back, grinning before running back down the street.

Lisbeth was a little shocked, shaking it off quickly and ran after him, yelling at him to wait up for her.

-:-

The sounds of a blade piercing through the air filled the area as Rotsen quickly sheath his three foot long blade. The digital boar that stood behind him turned into red code before exploding into small pieces of code and disintegrated. A small alert appeared by his side, telling him the Exp. he gotten.

"And that's how you do it."

He looked back to see Lisbeth having an annoyed look. They've spent the whole day grinding, Rotsen teaching her the ins and outs of combat, and them just talking about other MMO's and just life. Right now Lisbeth was sour about how easily he had been leveling up and the struggle she was going through. He was about level seven already and she was stuck on level four.

"You don't have to gloat about it."

"I can't help it," He rested himself agents his blade, thrusting it into the ground so his hand was prompted over it and supporting him. He looked over the horizon, seeing the sun already setting and telling him how long he'd been spending on this game. "It's getting pretty late, think it's time to finally log off."

"Yeah, I'll do the same." Lisbeth slide her hand down, letting the main menu to appear in front of her. "Hey, you're going to be back on tomorrow?"

Rotsen stopped his hand over his main menu when he heard Lisbeth He let a small smile creep on his face. "Why, you can't stand going through a game day without me?"

Lisbeth stiffened a little, growing a little irritated. In the hours spent talking and training with him she already grew accustoms to his poking fun. "Hey, I need all the help I can get on these first few floors. Plus you're going to need an upgrade from your weapons eventually and I'm the only blacksmith that you know."

The American rolled his eyes before laughing a little to himself. "Alright fine, I'll be back on at ten in the morning, eastern global time."

"I'll do the same then, see you then." She flashed him a smile and a wave before opening up the log out options. She froze before speaking up. "Ugh, Rotsen where is the log out button exactly?"

"What kind of question is that?" He asked as he too opened his log out options. "It's supposed to be right… here…" His eyes narrowed a little, trying to get his head around what was going on. The log out button was supposed to be there, right next to the cancel button.

"What's going on?" Rotsen was ignoring Lisbeth now, not on purpose but he needed to focus now on what was going on over the landscape farthest from them. A whole wave of small white beams could be seen, telling him that people were being teleported.

"I guess we'll find out." He mumbled aloud as he saw the teleported wave get closer to them, now teleporting them back into the center of the town.

Rotsen looked around, seeing the thousands of players that were online to this game, all being teleported in. Some that were in small parties were grouped together, as if they were expecting dangers. Other players that he could tell were Beta players were doing what he was doing, scanning the area for reasons why they were teleported and checking their inventory and options for reasons to this.

"Rotsen, what's that?" Lisbeth's voice was shaky. She was confused about the sudden teleport and her hand to was slightly trembling, pointing towards a small dot on the virtual sky. Rotsen squinted his eyes, trying to make out what it was. He couldn't tell what it was until more were starting to pop up. It wasn't until the sky was blood red that he could see what they all said. Polygons reading the words ERROR!

He stood there in silence as what seemed like blood started to ooze from the sky, collecting together to make a red coated figure, larger than the whole town square. It seemed to be a ghost since it was lacking both a face, for the hood's shadow was covering its face, and it was missing its legs and possibly its lower torso. Everyone was dead silent as it was there. It's booming voice now being used.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world."

Mumbling filled the air as players tried to wrap their heads around everything that was happening whilst others just seemed to brush it off as an extreme expansion pack or something on the lines. Rotsen however stood in silence, staring dead center at the Kayaba, remembering his name on the legal release forms on the original contract he signed to get the NerveGear and get his hands on the Beta version of this game.

"I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus - the log out button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how 'Sword Art Online' was designed to be." Kayaba motioned his left hand up, opening his own large menu to show others who didn't know about the log out button. Lord behold the log out button was missing.

"H-he's kidding, right?" Lisbeth said idly to Rotsen, not truly expecting him to respond.

"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the 'NerveGear' from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."

"Are you listening to this?" Lisbeth wanted more than anything that this was all just not happening, just hoping that this person was just a greasy hacker in a dark basement pulling a prank. "He's got to be nuts, right? Right, Rotsen?"

Rotsen remained silent for a moment before sighing, looking down to the ground. "He's not. The transmitter's signals in the headgear work just like microwaves. If the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain. It'll be like putting a potato in a microwave with tin foil wrapped around it."

"Couldn't someone cut the power or...?"

"That won't work. The NerveGear's got an internal battery. Meaning almost infinite battery life."

"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world." As he spoke several windows were being opened around and above the crowd, showing dozens, rapidly getting close to hundreds, of news reports of brains being fried by the NerveGear and many grieving families at hospitals or outside their homes.

"Two hundred thirteen…" Rotsen mumbled under his breath as he saw the numbers finally slowing down. His heart stopped when he saw his own house on the news, no doubt his father gotten word of the NerveGear and had reported it.

"No way... I don't believe it!" Lisbeth was trembling completely now, no doubting seeing a news cast of her home.

"As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system... forever. And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain. There is only one way for a player to escape now - you must clear the game. Right now, you're gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."

Players started to yell now, all saying what was on their minds about the dilemma.

"Clear?"

"What's he talking about?"

"Why should we believe any of the crap you're saying?"

"We can't clear all 100 floors... That's impossible... even the beta testers never made it that high!"

"Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look."

Rotsen's eyes widen in surprise as he opened his inventory, seeing a small item icon in his pouch. He selected it and a mirror appeared in his hand, showing him his character's face. He looked at his face, seeing nothing actually happening to him. He stopped studding himself however when he heard Lisbeth let out a small squeak, alerting Rotsen.

"Liz!" He gasped when he saw a white light encase Lisbeth He didn't know what to do but even if he could think of something it was too late. He was then encased by the same white light. He covered his eyes and crossed his arms over his face to protect himself.

"You okay, Rotsen?"

"Yeah. Wait... Who are you?" Rotsen felt a little dazed as he heard Lisbeth 's voice and he looked over to the source, now seeing that the light was gone but Lisbeth wasn't there anymore. Instead a girl about fifteen was standing right next to him. She was exactly as tall as he was and had pink short hair. The only thing that seemed familiar was her piercing red eyes.

"Wait, who are you?" She answered up, eying him as if he was crazy.

"Wait a second," Rotsen looked around, seeing the tons of people that were a majority of girls were now a majority of guys. It was like he was dropped into a new crowd of confused players but he knew it was still them since he could tell from the town square, it was completely the same when he first teleported in with Lisbeth

The girl continued to eye him until her eyes caught on Rotsen, looking at his icy blue eyes. She had a surprise look on her face, shocked at who she was looking at. "Is that you, Rotsen?"

"Wait, Liz?" The American looked at himself now, using the mirror that was still in his hands. He saw that his blue hair turned back into his inky black hair with the dyed streak. His eyes widen as he looked over himself, seeing he still had on the same gear but now his whole body was inside the game, including his height. His face redden from embarrassment as he realized that the girl was really the same Lisbeth he'd been grinding levels with and that she was actually the same height as he was.

"B-but, how?" Panic started to flow back into Lisbeth, overlooking herself as well.

Rotsen's eyes widen as he started to remember the pamphlet he was giving with the NerveGear, remembering a certain section. "The scan. There's a high-density signal device inside the NerveGear rig. It can see what my face looks like, but how's it know my height and body type?"

It was Lisbeth's turn to make conclusions. "When you first put the NerveGear on, it had to do this... calibration thing. It asked you to touch your body all over, remember?"

"But wait, why would he do this. I mean, this all doesn't add up."

As if on cue Kayaba spoke in his booking voice again, gaining everyone's attention again. "Right now, you are probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design.

"Kayaba..." Rotsen's first started to clench, rage now filling inside him.

"As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

The whole town square was silent now. No sound was made or could be even heard as Kayaba disappeared with everything, the red sky, the windows and himself. Everyone just stood there, others on their knees. They're whole world had just crashed down on them all, realizing that all wasn't just a game anymore.

Rotsen was thinking to himself now, much like everyone else was possibly doing. "_It's not a game anymore. It's real. Akihiko Kayaba created a virtual world. He designed the NerveGear rig.  
>The man's a genius! I've been a fan of his for the very beginning ... so I know... everything he just said... is the truth! All those hours spent listening to his podcasts and interviews to find out about the actual date release of Sword Art Online, for any tips or tricks in the game. All of it is true. If I die in the game, I'll die in real life!"<em>

Silence now fell; the first one to scream in agony was a girl in front. "My god... No!"

"No way!"

"Not cool, dude!"

"Let me out... Let me out of here!"

"I can't stay here. I have a meeting after this!"

"You have to let us go!"

"We're fucked!"

Rotsen slowly came back, blinking rapidly before looking over to Lisbeth . She seemed broken, not being fazed by the shouting. She just laid there, on her knees, deep in thought. Rotsen knew she wasn't going to survive long, not without help. He grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the crowd and into an empty path out of the town. When he knew they were along he let her go, speaking to her frozen expression.

"Listen, Kayaba is telling the truth. We're really stuck in this game. So if it's based off of every MMORPG then we have to get Exp. and money as fast as we can. The fields out here are going to be hunting dry so our best chance is to head to the next town. Don't worry, I know the best paths to go on and nothing wrong is going to happen. Liz…?"

Lisbeth stayed frozen for the whole conversation. She tried her best to make a decision and she knew what she was going to do. "Rotsen, listen… thanks but I don't know. I mean, I already have a friend here and she'd be devastated if I left her with a guy I just met today."

Rotsen went into a silent argument with himself. He was able to split all the loot an Exp. with Lisbeth but with another player? It wasn't going to be enough.

He slowly nodded, having a small smile to try and comfort her. "I get it, I'd do the same. If this is what you want then I'm not stopping you. Just promise me you'll call me up if you're ever in a jam?"

She slowly started to look up from the ground, a playful grin back on her face that he remembered her having not an hour ago. "As if we're ever going to need help."

Rotsen chuckled, looking behind himself and seeing the sun getting lower. He looked back to Lisbeth, a tired like smile now on his face. "I guess I'll see you on the next floor Liz."

Rotsen gave a little two fingered salute before starting run down street but stopped when he was grabbed the back of his tunic. He stopped and turned around, seeing it was Elisabeth Her face was a little red but it was gone unnoticed by Rotsen. In her hands was one of the ores she had when they first met at the town square, after their fall.

"Here, take this. It's Endorum. It's a rare metal in the game I got off this merchant with a glitch. He was reported by another player so he was taken off the grid. I want you to have it and sell it in the next town so you'd have enough supplies."

Rotsen looked at the dark green ore covered in black rock. Another soft smile was plastered on him as he placed a hand over it, feeling a small spark before putting it in his inventory. Blue code encased it before disappearing out of her hands.

"Thanks Liz, now promise me I'll see you on the second floor?" A small grin spread across his face as Lisbeth's went into an irritated state as he raised his right pinky.

"You got to be kidding me."

"Does it look like I am?"

Lisbeth rolled her eyes playfully before entwining her pinky with his, making the promise. "This is also a promise you won't stupidly die to something out there."

"I won't." He grinned before breaking contact, now running down the empty street and out into the fields outside.

He ran with everything he had in him to continue running, wanting to take advantage of his time. He didn't even stop when he saw large Dire Wolf on the path, being aggroed by him. His mind however acted first as drew out his three foot long sword. Rotsen yelled as he ran his blade through the Dire Wolf when it was midair, cutting it in half and continued running, making a new mental promise.

"_I got this! I know I do! This world won't get the best of me! I will get to the hundredth floor! I will survive, no matter what!"_


	2. Chapter 2: The Hunt For Beaters

Rotsen sighed as he closed the calendar window he had opened up at his side. He rested the empty wooden cup on the table, running a hand through his inky hair. He was sitting in the back of an inn. He was in the village that was at the entrance of the main dungeon, the one that held this floor's final boss. It had been over a month already and over two thousand players had already died from mobs, suicide, and other players. In that month no one has even found the dungeon boss on the first floor. What was worse was that people were starting to lose hope, increasing that suicide rate. A few of the other optimistic players already held a meeting yesterday, out by the entrance of the dungeon. He stayed at the outskirts of the small crowd, listening to them. The only Intel he got was that there were a noticeable number of players who hate Beta Tester's guts. He heard enough once they brought in the book he and the other testers had written for the players. He planned not to help them out. He thought if they were going to be negative about the Beta Testers for not helping then they're ignorant enough to die without their help. Besides, if that party gets demolished then later he can go with a few other high level players and sweep the boss.

He stood up from his table, leaving a copper coin on the table. He idly walked out of the inn and headed for the metal shop. He needed a new weapon since the sword wasn't doing it for him anymore. Mobs were starting to get stronger and it was starting to get unconformable for him to hold and attack with. He already upgraded his gloves and tunic, now having dark blue gloves that increased his attack speed and a black leather clock that decreased his armor but doubled his evasion.

He passed a few handful of players and NPC's outside, players were either heading for the meeting place or just shopping around while the NPC's were either just walking on their programed routes or were trying to sell stuff to players. It didn't matter to the American; he simply ignored the commotion and headed for the metal shop.

The shop looked like every other shop on the streets; only thing separating it from the rest was the sign that held a hammer crossed over an anvil. Rotsen slowly steeped in, surprised that a bell went off as he entered. He appreciated the small addition to the shops before taking in the shop.

It was a cozy and hot room made of a mix of bricks and planks. The Beta Tester had to remind himself that lower level shops aren't supposed to look nice. There were armor stands on the walls and handful of weapons hanging on the walls separate from the armor. At the end was a black brick counter; behind it was an overly built African American blacksmith NPC working at the small forge behind the counter.

Rotsen started to browse the armor, being a little disappointed that there wasn't any lighter armor. When he was tired of looking at heavy metal armor he made a quick turn to the weaponry, hurting his head from making head to head contact with someone.

He fell to the floor with a thud, groaning as he rubbed his forehead. "Ugh, god damn…"

"Hey, watch it!" A feminine voice called back near him, also sounding in pain and annoyance.

Rotsen's eyes widen as he heard the familiar voice. He stood rubbing his bruised head and looked across from himself, seeing Lisbeth also sprawling on the floor with materials all over the floor. What was odd about her was that she no longer had her short brown hair but had changed it to puffy pink.

"Are we seriously going to keep doing this?" Rotsen said slyly, having a playful grin as he gotten Lisbeth's attention.

Her eyes widen a little as she finally looked over to him. Her eyes were a little glassy as she roughly hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck, almost chocking him to death. "Thank god you're not dead!" Lisbeth's eyes widen a little as she realized what she was doing. Her face reddens from sheer embarrassment from her impulsive act. She quickly let him go; pushing him square in the chest so he was on his back. "I mean, I thought you would've died to some slim or something out there."

Rotsen groaned a little, feeling a little upset from the push. "And for a second I thought you actually cared."

Lisbeth huffed, crossing her arms as she got up, looking away from him. He raised an eyebrow, not sure what she was doing. "Uh, what?"

"It's your mess, you pick it up. " She said coldly, still looking away with an angry expression.

The American sighed as he picked up all the resources and dumped them in her crossed arms. "There, happy?" His face quickly reddens when he noticed after the whole month of separation He was actually a noticeable inch shorter than Lisbeth, embarrassing him.

"Over joyed." She said as she put everything back in her inventory, not noticing his blush. "So anyways, hey! How come you haven't messaged me?"

"Sorry 'bout that, been really busy with level grinding and getting some gold. What's your excuse for not messaging me then?"

"Level grinding and collecting resources, mostly. That and I found out about the Skill Workers."

For the first time in the whole month Rotsen had never been genially surprised by anything. "Skill Workers? What the hell are those?"

"Oh, something Mr. Beta Tester, doesn't know?" Lisbeth had a very playful and smug grin on her face, enjoying her friend's distress. "Just so you know it was actually a last minute update they added in. Basically you can get skills to get you materials, make certain things, and get some money in your pocket and Exp. Like for the blacksmith skill, it allows you to make weapons and mine certain ore others can't get. It also increases my damage dealing and tanking. Leather working helps your agility and speed, cooking and alchemy helps out your status resistance, and tailoring just helps you get a lot more money than the others."

"That's pretty cool, and over powered."

"Not really, you can only have one skill at a time. If you max one out and want another you have to give up your previous one and get the new one, losing your buffs."

"Speaking of skills why not we head out to an inn I know, they have really good hot chocolate."

Lisbeth pretended to think it over, giggling to herself when she saw Rotsen's impatient express. "Sure, why not? My friend's gonna be busy all day with that dungeon raid anyways, and before you ask yes I am worried but I know she can handle herself without my help."

As the two started to leave the metal shop a thought came across Rotsen's mind. "Speaking of which, you never had told me your friend's name, and please do add you month's adventure."

"Her names Asuna, a really good friend of mine and an amazing player, better than you for sure." She grinned a little as Rotsen rolled his eyes. "She's a little shy, no scratch that, very socially awkward when it comes to new people. Before she left she had to use a brown cloak we gotten from a monster drop. No armor whatsoever, it's more of an accessory, and-"

The American had to cut her off as the two entered the inn, not wanting to hear her ramble on about an accessory. "Are you really going to ramble on that cloak?"

An NPC waitress walked towards them as they sat at the back of the inn, sticking to her programing. "What can I get you two?"

"Two hot chocolates and two strawberry cake slices." Rotsen raised two fingers, holding ten copper coins between them, breaking into blue code and disappearing.

The waitress smiled as two cups, forks, and plates materialized in front of them. The cups were quickly filled with hot chocolate and the plates held small slices of vanilla cake, decorated with whip cream and a strawberry. "Enjoy your stay."

When the NPC was gone Lisbeth finally spoke, picking up her fork. "I'm not gonna do that. Basically we've been exploring the edge of the west and northern quadrants of the 1st floor. There were some close calls here and there but we were able to get out of them all, no sweat." She poked her fork at the cake, almost questioning its existence. "Another noob question, we don't have to eat, do we? Asuna I and haven't eaten for a while. Longest had been two weeks."

"You don't have to eat but it helps your mind and stomach. You'll feel a lot better and be able to keep on doing what you've been doing." As a demonstration he got a piece of his slice and ate it, enjoying the flavor. "Sadly you can't live off this stuff. I heard a few players died from not eating anything IRL way back when this was in Beta. If your folks were smart to all the hospital they should be feeding you regularly."

"I hope so…" Lisbeth started to get a little depressed, her mind wandering back to her real home. She was so occupied with her thoughts she was oblivious to the fact that she was stirring her hot chocolate with her unused fork.

Rotsen felt the sadness coming off her and quickly came up with an idea. He dipped his thumb into his cake slice, getting frosting on his thumb. He stretched over the table and whipped it on her nose, causing him to laugh as she blinked and blush from both embarrassment and anger.

"You eat your food, not play with the utensils." Rotsen joked, dodging a glare from Lisbeth "Go on and eat. It won't bite."

Lisbeth growled loud enough for him to hear as she whipped the cream away and took a piece, grumpily eating it. Her eyes widen as she tasted it, falling in love with the sweet, creamy strawberry flavor. She took several more quick bites and didn't stop until it was all gone. Her let out a disappointed whimper that Rotsen thought was too cute for her to do, causing him to chuckle.

"Not bad huh?" He asked aloud as he finished his slice, washing it down with the rest of his hot chocolate.

"No, it wasn't…" She crossed her arms, her face going a little red as she looked away. "Thank you for the meal."

"No problem," He laid down a copper coin on the table, disintegrating into blue code and disappearing.

Lisbeth's eyes widen slightly as she watch the coin disappear before her. "What happened, why'd you do that?"

"There are always these hidden quests in inns and other shops. If you can find it and complete it then you have two choices; either take a large amount of coin as a reward or get a share of the shop. With that share you have to always donate at least weekly to the shop and by the end of the week you should have a nice share of the profit the shop had made from other players. Donation varies on the floor level. You can either keep it like that or save up, not collecting the money, and later get another quest from the shop. If you can complete it without fail then you get the shop for yourself. Downside is whatever that shop was that's what it'll stay as. If it's a bread shop then it'll stay a bread shop but you can decorate it however you wish."

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind."

"Then c'mon," the American stood up from the table, already finished. "NPC's don't like it when players hang around for long if they're not going to order more."

Lisbeth stood along with him, the two walking out and were caught off guard by the sun already setting.

"It's already getting late, I have to go."

"Where to?"

"I promised Asuna that I'd wait outside the entrance to the dungeon."

"I'll walk with you," he sped up, making Lisbeth walked faster to stay at his side. He laughed a little, seeing her annoyed look and slowed down. "I got nothing better to do for the day."

"I appreciate it," Lisbeth teased, sounding very sarcastic. She quickly dropped it and started to get serious. "You think they beat the boss?"

Rotsen hesitated, biting his tongue so he wouldn't say what he was truly thinking. He would bet a gold coin that they'd all die, if not several survivors. He had to be positive, for her sake since she did have a friend that probably didn't make it. "Yeah, no doubt they already beaten then boss and are heading here now."

"Do you have any friends here?"

The question caught the American off guard, making him stay quiet for a moment, letting his untamed inky hair drape over his face. "Only one I have is you, as my friend." He could feel intense emotion forming around them. He didn't like the situation and so he changed it quickly. The entrance could already be seen and numerous of players could be seen. He swished his head, making his hair move out of his face and revealed a positive expression. "Hey, there they are."

Lisbeth scanned the group of players flowing out, noticing it was missing about a quarter of players. She started to run when she couldn't find her friend. Rotsen ran after her, mentally preparing himself if Asuna didn't make it. When he caught up with her he wasn't surprised to see sad expressions on players. He was relieved when he saw Lisbeth hugging a player taller than her. She was a brunette in a white tunic and red armor with a Wind Fleuret at her side, a relatively rare monster drop. She had a dull and broken face, as if someone back stabbed her.

Rotsen walked over, hearing Lisbeth mumble out her famous words of kindness. "Thought you'd died, dummy."

"No way," she said softly, trying to cover up her hurt expression. "We beat the boss and opened the door to the second floor. We just came back since we needed to regroup."

"What happened to everyone?" The American couldn't help himself; he had to ask what had been bothering his mind ever since yesterday after the meeting. "There's gotta be a quarter of this squadron missing?"

"I'll tell you what happened," yelled a player with spiky brunette hair that went by the name of Kibaou. He was obviously livid from who knows what. "We did lose comrades, all because of a Beater!"

"A Beater?" Rotsen asked, having one of his rare surprised moments.

"It's a Bata Tester and a cheater." He answered back, stepping closer to him. "A player by the name Kirito didn't tell us anything about the final boss drop and what we should be watching out for! Damn Beta Tester should be killed on site for not telling any of us! They could have saved those dead players if they weren't so self-centered and took all the good grinding areas!"

Rotsen was clenching his fist the whole time. He heard enough from Kibosh yesterday and he wasn't quite in the mood for someone to be blaming deaths on him. "Hey, we tried to help you guys! We wrote that book for you all! If you weren't all idiots then you would have all survived the first week no sweat!"

Everyone grew silent as they all stared at Rotsen. The air seemed cold as the silence started to grow older than the noise that once filled the area. It didn't break until Kibosh spoke lowly.

"Y-you're a Beater?" Whispers started to arise, all being able to be heard.

"Seriously?"

"He doesn't look like it,"

"How come he wasn't with us?"

"He must be cheating too,"

"We can't trust him,"

It didn't stop until one player in the back shouted. "We gotta kill this Beater."

"The hell?" Rotsen yelled back, taking a step back.

"He's right, Beaters can't be trusted!"

"Get him!"

With that final shout the whole crowd went wild. They all charged at him, drawing out their weapons. Rotsen reacted fast, leaping to the side and jumping to the side of the coliseum like entrance. He took advantage of the other player's confused state and looked at Lisbeth. She had a hurt and confused expression, locking eyes with him. The American trembled a little, thinking about the crowd that was still confused. He knew now people weren't going to take Beta Testers too lightly, meaning if anyone here spreads the word about him he'd be killed on sight if he was seen by anyone like them.

He locked eyes with Lisbeth one last time before raising his pinky, his way of telling her he'll see her when he could. He looked away, raising his hood from his cloak and jumped back to the area and ran into the dungeon. He had a new plan. He had to be aggressive if he was going to survive now. He was going to have to be a Beater if he was going to survive now. He made a promise and he was going to see that through.

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><p><strong>Sorry that it wasn't longer but I thought I'd cover what players would be doing after the first dungeon.<strong>

**If you guys don't like this story then please don't hesitate to stop reading.**

**If you do like this story please do leave a review on what you think about it so far and with a fallow and favorite =D**

**Till next time guys!**


	3. Chapter 3: Guild Offers

**A/N: Thank you to Harukawa Ayame for both fallowing and favoring this story, hop you like the rest of the story!**

**Just a head's up, I'm gonna keep doing these shout outs for every new person who favorites, fallows or leave a review.**

**So anyways, on with the story!**

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><p>Rotsen sighed as he rested his back agents a mossy trunk, slipping onto the ground and sitting lazily. He was exhausted from sweeping through the third floor dungeon, Forest of Weaving Mist. It was known to be hard for players with low agility, reflexes, and detection skills to pass. This was the floor known for ambushes and taps. The Beater however was skilled on speed, agility, reflex, detection, sneak and evasion.<p>

It had been over two weeks and Rotsen had already upgraded everything in his arsenal. He kept the same cloak and gloves but he traded in his boots for another pair that increased his speed, black leather pants that increased his armor and agility, a new blue linen shirt that increased his evasion. And finally he sold his sword to buy two knifes that increased his one handed attacks and speed. He had a special player ability, thanks to his Leather Working, that allowed him to have more attack power with knifes and another natural ability called Shadow Sneak, allowing him to get the drop on mobs and players.

The American had to haul ass in both the second and third floor villages. There were more players than he thought that were on the hunt for Bata Testers. If it wasn't thanks for his abilities than he would have been spotted and killed. There was also the fact that a player by the name of Kirito was rumored to be planning on sweeping all floors solo. Rotsen had to get to certain floor bosses before Kirito, just for the drops he knew he was going to need. And this boss is one that he needed.

Rotsen quickly pulled out a map he had been making for the past hour. It was dangerous for solo players to be making maps because it causes them to be vulnerable to attacks and it takes up to two seconds to close it. He'd been risking it and came face to face with close calls. Luckily he'd been doing okay. He quickly scanned the map, seeing there was a little bit of space he hadn't mapped out yet, meaning it was the final boss. To the Bata Testers it was nicknamed Venus, for obvious reasons.

The Beater stood up, putting the map away and walked down the dirt path, keeping his eyes open. It was a simple straight away until it forked into paths. One was so misty that you can only see a few feet in front of you. The other led to wall of roots with thorns that looked to be unbreakable. Rotsen idly and cautiously walked towards the roots, stepping through it. The image broke like the surface of water, revealing an overhang of roots and trees, making it look like an entrance to a cave.

The American drew out both his steel knifes, getting into a defensive stance. Mist started to surround the battle area, decreasing Rotsen's field of vision. He closed his eyes, putting all his energy to hearing now. He heard nothing but silence and the faint sound of slithering. Once he heard the slithering get closer his eyes shot open. He leaped ahead, looking behind him when he heard a roar of anger.

The mist started to clear and behind him stood a Venus flytrap with sharp fangs and goo dripping out of its mouth. It roared again, causing the mist to clear and reveal two more Venus fly trap heads, only difference was one had purple ooze and the other had orange ooze. Their roots were tangled together, making a dinosaur like body made of thorn covered roots. It raised its deadly spiked tail, swinging it threateningly behind itself. Two green health bars appeared at each head and the name Dino-Muscipula appeared over the heads, signifying this to be the floor boss.

Rotsen tighten his grip on his blades and ran towards nature's abomination, letting out a battle cry. The boss roared as it smashed its spike tail foreword, missing the American. He jumped onto the tail, running up and getting onto its back. He knew its weakness and he was planning on getting the secret drop. All three heads turned and look at him, hissing as they dived at his one at a time.

Rotsen kept dodging; nipping them with his knifes just to agitate them. Once Venus was scratched up enough with all three heads missing one eighth of each of their health bars they all hissed. The arched their heads back and all three shot their respective ooze at him. The Beater stood in placed as he let all three ooze hit him. He didn't lose any health as he was covered in a blue like ooze. The three ooze mixed together isn't lethal to players, but it toxic to plants.

Rotsen grinned as Venus roared and hiss in pain as their health bars started to go down. He then interacted with the blue ooze, coating his blade with them. He ran up Venus' back, leaping up towards its orange and green heads, slicing its necks/roots. When he landed on the ground he lost some health from fall damage but he ignored it since it was just five points. He looked back as the heads withered and break, the two health bars going down to zero.

The last purple ooze Venus roared, diving its razor sharp mouth at Rotsen. He stood his ground as he readied his blue oozed blades. Once it was close enough Rotsen jumped, meeting it at halfway and stabbing his knifes rapidly into its fleshy mouth. It hissed in pain as its health bar went into the red, slowly ticking down from poison damage. Once it was down to zero the whole rooted body withered into brown roots, then disintegrating into code and disappearing.

The words **"Congratulations!" **appeared over where Dino-Muscipula once stood. A small window appeared next to Rotsen, showing him his loot and Exp. Another small window appeared next to him with the words **"Congratulations!"** telling him he was now on level twenty.

He closed it and saw he gained a few gold pieces and twenty silver, along with the drop he wanted; a dagger made of Iron Wood, with poison damage, named Nature's Dagger. Rotsen lowly chuckled, laughing at the creativity before closing both windows and getting into a stance when he heard the sound of slow clapping.

He drew out his standard knifes, watching cautiously as he saw three figures walk out of the mist. One was tall and lanky with an oval crazy look. He had beginner gear under a black sleeveless cloak and black gloves. The other was a blonde busty woman with the same sleeveless cloak and gloves. Between the two was a muscular man with brown hair in a ponytail. He also had beginner gear, sleeveless cloak and gloves.

He stooped his clapping once he knew they were seen. He had a raspy voice but had confidence and authority. "That was mighty impressive, kid. How did you know that was the thing's weakness?"

Rotsen stayed silent as he kept his knifes up, ignoring the blue ooze that was still dripping off him. He knew something was off about them and he really didn't want to stick around and find out.

"Oh, the silent type." The blonde spoke with admiration in her voice. "What level are you?"

"Twenty." Rotsen lowly answered, keeping his expression solid as he saw the lanky guy eyes widen.

"No way," he said, hunching over to the obvious boss of the three. He whispered just loud enough for Rotsen to hear. "He's got to be a Beater. If we turn him in we could get that gold we need."

The leader stayed silent for a moment. He waved off the lankly guy before stepping forward a few steps. "I am Oshoku, my tall associate is Kitub and this vicious reptile is Medusa. We're creating a guild called Laughing Coffin. Our goal is, well… 'help out' the weaker players of SAO. We're looking for new members and we think you make the cut, good sir."

"Is there dental?" Rotsen joked, lightening his tone but kept his harden face.

"No, but there is benefits to both loot and resources. What'd you say?" He stretched out his right hand out to the American. Rotsen now saw the symbol on the back of his glove. It showed a coffin with a skeleton arm and hand by the side with a blade, eyes and a pair of smiling lips.

Rotsen eyed the design on the hand and back at Oshoku. He wanted to stay as a solo player and not get anyone in danger. He also didn't want to get slowed down, but he did need the help if he was going to get pass harder floors. He sighed quietly before looking up.

"I'm going to have to think about it."

Oshoku smiled, retracting his hand before waving for the other two to get beside him. "Understood. If you do decide to join us, use this on the teleport," he handed the Beater a black card with the same logo he had on his gloves.

Oshoku walked past Rotsen, waving for the other two to fallow him. Kitub fallowed, not giving Rotsen a second thought. Medusa however lingered a little, waving back to Rotsen as they all exited the dungeon. The entrance to the next floor was secretly revealed as an opening forming at the back of the hangover of roots.

Once the American knew he they were gone he sighed, letting himself sit on the dirt. He quickly equipped Nature's Dagger and stared at the card. He had a sinking feeling it wouldn't be best for him to join but he needed the resources. Rotsen sighed before closing his inventory, getting up and headed to the exit. He had a long day of grinding and questing ahead of him now.

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><p>Rotsen sighed as he twirled the card in his hand, walking through the dark streets of Lorbria. He knew he was going to be safe at night since most players were asleep at this time. It was a week after the last boss battle and he needed to clear his head. He was torn to either get rid of the card or join the guild.<p>

The American kept walking until he was in a good grinding area in the outskirts of the town. He's ears twitched, getting a mental alert that some people were near. His eyes darted around him, seeing no one but heard distance battle cries coming from the forest. Rotsen quickly ran into the forest, using his agility to jump into the trees and leaped to the source. He stopped at a clearing, seeing five players being circled by Killer Mantises. It wouldn't be so bad if the mantis weren't over six feet. They were known to spawn on the tenth floor and rarely spawn on both levels three and four.

One of the players was big, had a long face and had heavy knight armor with a lance drew out. Another was small and was in beginner armor with an axe that was bigger than him held out in front of him. Beside him was a tall and lanky boy also in beginner blue armor, clutching onto a spear for dear life. The fourth one was a girl with blonde pigtails. She was in linen red clothing with armor pads covering every essential part of her with a mace pointed at the Mantises. Lastly there was a guy with brown hair also with beginner red armor. The only things that differ from the rest were the noticeable additional armor pads, purple gloves and black cowl latched on him.

He started to shout at the other four. "Okay guys, take notes. This is one reason why a DPS shouldn't agro anything." He shot the lanky guy a dirty look.

He squirmed uneasily, pointing his spear at him. "Hey, not my fault you guys were being too slow."

"Guys, I really don't want our last actions to be arguing over this." The girl said loudly, making the two stop.

"Kaya's right," he admitted, sighing as he opened his inventory, equipping a curved katana onto his hands. He went into a defensive stance, gripping hard on the hilt. "Defensive maneuvers guys, watch each other's backs!"

Rotsen sighed, knowing he'd have to help them. He could tell if he let them be there wouldn't be survivors. Even if there was only one or two of them would have made it. He pulled his hood on, causing a large shadow to cast over his upper face. He drew out Nature's Dagger and his iron knife, leaping out of the tree and attacking.

He quickly backstabbed one, killing it with one hit. He quickly darted to the one beside him, getting it square in the chest. He dodged a swipe from the third one, side stepping out of the way. He jumped at it, swiping it to pieces and kicked off its fading code body before getting the last two with down swipes, landing onto the ground with ease as the last two disintegrated into code.

Rotsen sheath his daggers, quickly scanning the little window that popped up next to him. He closed it when nothing seemed important. He was about ready to run off again stopped when he heard the brunette leader.

"Hey, where did you learn to fight like that?" He asked as he got close to Rotsen, sheathing his katana. The other four crowded behind him, curious driving them to.

"Just know how to." The American deadpanned. He didn't want to stick around, and apparently they weren't getting the clue.

"Listen, you're not a part of a party or a guild, are you?"

Rotsen took a moment to think over what he was going to say. He wasn't a part of Laughing Coffin, he just got an invite. Not to mention there's Lisbeth. They were never even in a party, except when they first grinded for levels.

"No, I'm a solo player."

"Well do you want to stop it? We could use all the help we could get and it'd be safer if you weren't out on your own."

The Beater bit the corner of his mouth, taking in what he just said. He was going to need some help on future floors, but that wasn't going to be until a long while. Not to mention there's too many of them. There'd be too many casualties. But then there's the fact he could keep them safe. He was technically over powered for the first handful of floors.

Before Rotsen could say anything the leader cut him off. "I know what you're thinking, and let me just make you a proposition. Come on one mission with us. Not as a guild but a small party. When were done then you can tell me if you want to stay or not. How's that?"

"Depends on the job."

"We got word about a small dungeon north of here. Inside is rumored to be a rare item. Don't know what it is but,"

"It's the Cloak of Echo." Rotsen deadpanned, quickly realizing he just cornered himself. He knew he had to think of something, and fast. "It's to double your evasion. I heard of it from a couple of NPC's. They didn't flat out say it but I could tell they were hiding something."

"That sounds awesome!" The skinny teen shouted, getting excited.

"It does, we'll decide, on a _group_ vote, on who gets it." He specifically said the voting part towards the skinny player, as if they had a problem with him before. "So are you in or not?" He stretched out his hand; a small simple could be seen on the back of his gloves as well, showing a tribal wolf's head under a crescent moon.

Rotsen stared at it for a moment, thinking of Laughing Coffin's logo. He shook it off before shaking hands with the leader, reminding himself it was just for one job.

"Welcome aboard… uh…"

"Rotsen, my names Rotsen."

"Right, Rotsen! I'm Vulgar by the way, leader of the guild Night Wolves. These are my teammates." As if on cue they all stood taller, wanting to make a good impression. "The big oaf here is Noah."

The player in the knight's armor waved, going back into a salute and spoke in an England accent. "Hello Sir Rotsen. It is a pleasure to have you along for the eve."

"He's a massive role player," Vulgar whispered to Rotsen. "Please don't crush his fun. The obnoxious one is my brother, Hinata."

"Sup," he plainly said, giving his brother a dirty look

"This is Kaya," he motioned his hand towards the girl with blonde pigtails, swinging her mace around, trying to act coolly.

"Nice to meet you Rotsen." She said coolly, giving him a soft look. Rotsen returned it, making her lightly blush and letting the mace go. It went flying and made contact to Hinata's cheek.

"Ah, damn!"

She awkwardly mumbled sorry as she clipped the mace back to her side, couching several times to get rid of her blush from embarrassment and signaling Vulgar to continue.

Vulgar chuckled, coughing it away to finish. He rested his hand atop of the small player, agitating him. "And this little pipsqueak is Danny."

"Hey, stop that!" He shouted at his guild leader. By the sound of his voice Rotsen was saddened. Danny was could be no older than ten. To think he was trap along with them, and possibly even smaller children, just started to tore him apart.

"Anyways, we should be going, we don't have much time till its dawn. Noah, if you will."

"Of course General Vulgar!" Noah pulled out his lance, pointing it forwards and shouted even louder. "On word, to The Cavern of Sounds!"

Danny laughed to himself, gladly fallowing Noah as he marched out deeper into the forest. Hinata sighed as he rolled his eyes, getting pushed along by Kaya when he would start fallowing. Vulgar started to fallow the four, lowly chuckling. Rotsen watched them leave, still thinking everything over.

True they could be able to handle themselves, even better with him along. If he left he would be done with them and just keep going with his plans. On the other hand he could be able to get the cloak, replacing the one he has.

A small window popped in front him, getting him out of his thoughts. He looked at, seeing what it said. **"Player Vulgar has invited you to join a group party. Accept? Decline?"**

Rotsen looked up and saw Vulgar standing in front of him. He raised an eyebrow at the American, waiting for him to respond. Rotsen half smiled, selecting the accept button. It closed and he could see smaller health bars pop right under his with their names. Their health bars were purple and so were their names. Rotsen looked back to see Vulgar running ahead, trying to catch up with the others. He kept the half smile before running after them, jumping into the trees to get ahead of them. He had a sinking feeling about it all but he ignored it. He had lives to protect now.

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><p><strong>AN: What'd you think of his chapter? Love it? Hate it so much you'd pay me to stop? Leave a review for me to know if you like it or hated it.**

**Also, remember if you do like it and want it to continue then leave a review, fallow, or a favorite. I'm not a mind reader so please let me know.**

**Till next time!**


	4. Chapter 4: A New Change

**A/N: Thank you to NoirSwordsman, Awesomematth, Nazarkovn, and Andresfam for favoring and fallowing this story!**

**By the way sorry for taking a while to update. Been busy!**

**Anyways, on with the story!**

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><p>"Day 42, Wednesday of November 19, 2023. Status; Level 34 on the 23rd floor, standard level being 20 with players as for Beaters its level 30. I'm planning on leading the Night Wolves into the 23rd dungeon boss. Were due to…"<p>

_Knock, knock!_

"To leave in several…"

_Knock, Knock!_

"In several minutes…"

_KNOCK, KNOCK!_

"_Rotsen, we're leaving now! Get a move on!" Kaya shouted from behind his door, making him close his journal. "Vulgar and the others are going to leave without us if we don't, oh you're alive."_

_The Beater rolled his eyes as he opened the door, standing just a few inches above eye level. It's been over two months since he'd first helped the Night Wolves out in getting Echo's Cloak. It was an easy sweep with him around and so they decided to give it to him when they defeated the mini boss. After that mission they asked if he needed help beating the boss on the fourth floor. Eventually it got into a trend of them helping him sweep every boss he was able to get to if they weren't already beaten by other group of players or the illusive player Kirito._

_Eventually he found himself getting immersed into the guild and becoming a member, earning himself a new tunic from them, bearing the guild's logo. Over the months they haven't found much as upgrades for themselves but Rotsen had found plenty for himself. He still had Echo's Cloak, along with the tunic. He replaced his old blade for a new dagger, now duel wielding both Nature's Dagger and a golden dagger increasing his damage. He got around to writing a journal, wanting to keep everything down. If, no, when they get out he wanted a record of everything that happened. He even got around writing every moment he noticed himself getting taller, getting a little excited every time._

"_Let's get a move on then." He blandly said as he walked past Kaya, heading for the inn's exit._

"_So what's the boss this time?" Kaya asked curiously as she followed him out, now leading him once they were out on the dark streets. "What dirt did you get off the NPC's this time? Noah spent a few hours talking to loads of NPC's, trying to get ahead of you and found nothing."_

_Rotsen stiffened a little, lowly swearing at the role player. For the pass floors he'd been taking order of 'getting information' on the bosses. In actuality he knew every boss from floor 1 to floor 32 by heart. Knowing that Noah tried to do it on his own means he couldn't warn them of the boss's abilities. He couldn't tell them he was a Beater. He remembered the last time they across another Beater. Vulgar didn't take her lightly when she beaten the mini boss they were after. After that he hated all Beaters and swore to kill any he found._

"_I don't know," the American lied through his teeth, getting a head of Kaya and pulling his hood on, hiding his facial expressions. "We're just going to have to luck it out."_

_The scene quickly changed to the whole guild, fighting in a circle, all cornered in the middle of the dungeon with Rotsen in the center. Vulgar was nowhere to be seen for he was trapped outside the boss room. The room itself was a cave like room, filled to the brim with red crystals, giving them light._

_They were currently cornered by the Main Bosses' pawns. They were literally pawn like creatures, having heavy plated armor, much like medieval knights, and long swords armed in both hands. Their faces were covered by their helmets, but the sounds they were making weren't human, orcish maybe._

_"Sir Rotsen!" Noah called back as he blocked another slash from the creatures. "How much longer until the boss shall appear?"_

_"Doesn't mater!" Hinata shouted back as he stabbed a creature with his spear, causing it to make it stumble back. "These things are gonna kill us before the boss even shows up!"_

_"We gonna die!?" Danny asked, so shaken up that he dropped his axe, leaving him completely expose._

_Rotsen jumped in front of him before one of the creatures could hit him, blocking and quickly getting behind it, backstabbing the creature though it's armor. _

_As it disintegrated into code Rotsen knelt down to Danny, putting a hand on the little kid's shoulder. "Listen to me, no one's gonna die today. I promise."_

_"It's coming!" Kaya screamed as she felt the ground shake under. She quickly smacked her mace agents one of the creature's head, causing it to disintegrate._

_Everyone quickly disposed the other pawns, finding their motivation to get the room cleared. When the last one was slashed into code Rotsen knelt down to the ground, waving for them all to do the same. Once they did they all saw the large crystal at the center of the ceiling start to crack. With every second small shards started to fall. Suddenly dozens of large chunks started to fell off until something fell with them._

_A giant red Orc like creature with massive tusks stood in the center, holding two pickaxes. It was covered in steel armor, covering his entire body except for his head. His beady black eyes dilated before he roared a mighty roar, causing the entire cave to shake. As he stopped four orange bars appeared near his right shoulder and his name appeared over his head; King Dadongo!_

_"I got this!" Hinata yelled as he charged ahead of everyone, using his spear to launch himself into the air, heading straight first for the Orc's head._

_"Hinata!" Rotsen yelled as he ran after him, seeing the Orc ready to slice him in mid air._

_Rotsen quickly jumped into the air, hurdling himself between the two attacks. He quickly blocked both hits, causing himself and Hinata to fly back to the team and stumbling the boss. When they landed Hinata started to argue with him, again._

_"The hell man! I had him!"_

_"No you fucking didn't! You were about to get sliced!"_

_"I know what I'm doing!"_

_With that Hinata ran to Dadongo, throwing his spear, successfully hitting his eye. As the boss screamed in pain, causing it to lose a quarter of the first bar of health the others rushed in, slashing at his legs._

_"Guys, no, don't do that!" Rotsen yelled as he tried to warn them. Sadly he was too late._

_With one stomp everyone was sent flying back, causing them all to lose over half their health points. Rotsen yelled in annoyance, opening his inventory and running to Kaya, now holding several healing potions._

_"Kaya, start healing everyone, we gotta regroup and think of a plan."_

_Kaya nodded, understanding Rotsen's small retreat before her eyes wondered to one of the giant hunks of crystal. She suddenly screamed, pointing towards it. The American's eyes darted to the area she was pointing at. Atop the crystal was Hinata, now having his spear back. He was currently running atop the crystal, ready to launch himself into the air and standing the thing head on._

_"Hinata!" Rotsen yelled as he ran towards him. _

_flashes of light filled the scene as the image kept jumping and changing from Hinata flying to through the air and his body lying on the floor. Hinata's health bar could be seen as it slowly dropped to zero. Then all that could be seen was his mouth, moving, saying only two small words._

_"...I'm sorry..."_

_The scene then changed to the American, almost in a sense of blood rage as he slashed and stabbed the Orc boss, not losing the slightest bit of health. Red consumed the image as he continued to stab and slash with anger._

_The scene finally changed to Vulgar, yelling at Rotsen as Noah and Kaya hold him back. Rotsen stayed a few steps away, holding his hands in front of him._

_"Vulgar, I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him,"_

_"You could have! You could have saved my brother!"_

_"I couldn't, he was too far and the boss,"_

_"How come _you _didn't die!? How come you single handedly killed the boss all by yourself, with no shield or anything! Answer me that! You have a secret, tell me!"_

_"I'm a Beater!"_

_The scene changed again with Vulgar, trying to slash Rotsen into two. Rotsen kept blocking and dodging. Flashes of light kept shining until everything turned to darkness._

Rotsen desperately gasped for air as he urgently grabbed his torso, almost as if he was stabbed. He checked his surroundings, seeing that there was nothing but the candle lit wooden room.

"That's right..." He mumbled as he ran a hand through his hair. The image of himself getting pierced through the torso by Vulgar started to flash through his mind. "It's all just a memory."

The American got up lazily, trudging over to the door. It was already one in the morning and he needed to started leaving the town. It was already a week since the incident and he needed to keep moving. He had a job to do.

Another image started to flow through him as the scene of himself meeting with the members of Laughing Coffin.

_He stood in the empty and cold bricked inn room, seeing the three figures sit before him. Oshoku, leader of the small guild sat between his two commanding officers, Kitub and Medusa. They're hoods were covering their faces but it didn't took a rocket scientist to tell who from who._

_"So, have you finally decided, Mr. Rotsen?" Oshoku asked as he crossed his arms on the table, watching the Beater stand perfectly in the center._

_"I have decided," Rotsen spoke lightly. He was tried from running, from both Vulgar and the players Vulgar had told that Rotsen was a Beater, so he was again back on the hunt. "As you promised, protection and freedom?"_

_"Yes and no mostly." Medusa answered strongly, something a little out of character for her. "You first have to pass an assignment."_

_"What is it?"_

_"You have to kill Yugo Batik," Kitub answered with a maniacal laugh. "Kill him on your own, keep it hush, hush, and your in."_

_"But then I'm gonna be labeled as a PK, making me a bigger target,"_

_"There is a way to keep you as an orange player," it was Oshoku's turn now to speak, almost as if it was a council. He held up two black cards, both with the Laughing Coffin Logo, one had almost a speech behind it while the other was completely blank. "Read what is said on this card. It'll anger the target and cause him to attack you first. Then it'll leave you open to do an act of self defense, auto locking you as an orange player. After the kill leave the other card where his body once laid. We need to show this world what were capable of."_

Rotsen shook his head again as he took the image out of his head. With the information he was able to gather from other players he was able to know exactly where Yugo should be. He should be owning a bar on the 24th floor. Too his luck the bar looked like it was closing.

It was small looked almost like a standard inn on every floor. Once Rotsen stepped in he drew his Laughing Coffin hood. It hid his face well as he stepped through the nearly empty bar. It looked almost modern, with wooden tables all scattered in the center and bar stools by the liquor. These places were rare since liquor in the game wasn't cheap to make. Not to mention its easy to buy it if your not of age, just tip the barman more than usual and he could possibly set you up with a drink.

Rotsen's eyes peered to some players sitting at the stools, either passed out or still holding onto their virtual liquor. It always made him curious as to how they could get drunk off of nothing but intentions and thoughts.

He ignored the thought as he sat at the booth, waiting for the bartender, Yugo, to come serve him. He sighed tiredly as he realized he might get away with getting a drink since his feet couldn't touch the ground from his seat. As he waited he turned on his Detective Mode, a perk not many can get, and scanned the kitchen, seeing that is was completely empty of any entities.

He quickly turned it off when he was greeted by Yugo. A large fat man with a ginger beard and short ginger hair. He had on a green tunic and white apron. He looked the part of the a bar Scottish bar owner. He was even cleaning a mug as he walked over.

""Euro, what can I do ye for?"

"I'd take a Ship Sheraton..." As the American spoke he tried to sound several years older, and by the looks of it it was working.

He stared at the American's gloves and cloak before grabbing him by the scruff of the material and pulled him into the kitchen. Rotsen allowed it until they were in. He pushed the bartender back, their level difference could easily be seen from the small push.

"Who the bloody hell are you!?" He asked angrily as he pulled out a seven foot long steel sword. He held it defensively as sweat started to trickle down his large forehead.

"Yugo Batik, someone want's your head. I am a member of the Laughing Coffin. You are a target by the organization known as the Black Panthers,"

Yugo didn't let Rotsen finish. Once he said the name of the ones paying him the large man started to panic like a rat cornered. "Please, spare me! I'll get the money, it's just been slow lately!"

"It's about four weeks from Christmas and your telling me your having slow business? Either way it's not my choice if you live or die. If you chose to run then you may possibly live for another day, but in a much more painful death. If you face me now then it may be swift. Your choice."

With a mighty battle cry the bartender ran towards Rotsen, ready to slice the little American's head off. That was until it seemed like he had disappeared. Almost in a instant the lights in the kitchen went out. The bartender scrambled around as he kept the sword in a defensive position, waiting for any signs of the assassin.

Rotsen stood at the other end of the kitchen, whistling. It attracted the bartender, causing him to run in that direction and slashed forward. The American side stepped and stretched out his finger, letting it get pricked. Almost in a instant the green gem that was above Yugo was now orange, like Rotsen's and it didn't go unnoticed.

"What the hell was that? What did you do, you... you..."

He stopped talking as he saw the his health bar slowly go down, with the poison and paralyze symbol by his name. Yugo started to stagger down to the ground as he watched the health bar go down and watching the figure now taking form in front of him.

"No hard feelings pal. Just doing my job." As the American spoke he sheathed his daggers, dropping the card atop Yugo's torso. As it fell he walked away, heading for the exit.

"...you... what are you..." Yugo asked as he saw the yellow bar slowly drop to the red.

The American stopped, his hand already on the door. "I'm nothing more than a Beater..."

With that he left Yugo lying on the ground, not bothering to see the out come. As he walked out of the bar he saw the little alert about him being in battle disappear, now alerting he successfully acted in his self defense.

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><p><strong>AN: What'd you think of his chapter? Love it? Hate it so much you'd pay me to stop? Leave a review for me to know if you like it or hated it.**

**Also, remember if you do like it and want it to continue then leave a review, fallow, or a favorite. I'm not a mind reader so please let me know.**

**Till next time!**


	5. Chapter 5: Missons of Laughing Coffin

**A/N: Thank you too Falling Pixels for Following and Favoring and thank you TheEliteWolf for commenting**

**Now on with the story!**

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><p>Rotsen gasped for air as his leg was kicked. He slowly started to wake up as Kitub hovered over his chair. They were both currently in the guild base. It was warmly underground guild base located in a secret location on the 35th floor, deep in the Forest of Wandering. It was hard for players to find the base if they aren't a member. Today he and Kitub had a job together, despite both their dismay. Their task; eliminate the rival mercenary guild, The Black Hand. Rotsen laughed when he first heard the name, remembering history class.<p>

"Get up, kid, we got a job to do."

Rotsen grumbled as he arose from his seat. Every guild member had their own room and bed. Rotsen however never uses his bed because of his paranoia. He knew Kitub and several other members didn't like him. Sleeping in a bed in the game will cause you to fully shut down until 6 a.m. Resting however allows you to wake up at any time you want. The Beater wanted to stay as alert as possible in the mad house he both worked and lived in.

"Where are they?" Rotsen as he walked out of his cold, gray brick room. It was dull since he never bothered to decorate it like everyone else. He never had the time since Oshoku always threw jobs at him since he was one of the top members. The only thing he had in his room was his chair, his dusty unused bed, torches hanging on the walls and small chest.

"They're on the the 4th floor, surprisingly." Kitub answered as they continued to walk down the cold hallway, heading for the guild teleporter. "Apparently they got a base hidden somewhere. We would've known more if our scouts weren't so weak and died on us."

Rotsen glared at Kitub as they walked. He disliked his views on human life, especially since he's third in command. "How are we going to approach this?"

"You take up the recon," Kitub answered lowly as he stood atop the dark blue platform, holding out a blue crystal. "I'll hang on the rooftops and you go on ground. After all, your still extra-meat for us."

The Beater ignored him as he stood along side him, pulling out his own crystal. It was the same thing with Kitub. He would insult him as a spare body or something on those lines, but when it mattered he would crawl and beg for Rotsen to save him if he couldn't handle it. Once the teleportaion was done Rotsen scanned the surrounding area.

It was midnight in the town of Lorbia's Teleport Gate Plaza. The streets were deserted from both players and PC's. In low level floors the standard time for PC's to go to bed was midnight, a way to get the players to be use to either logging out or go to an inn and spend some coin. It was practically like advertisement for them to either have room for other people to join the server and to make them spend more time playing to pay off that night in the inn.

The Beater raised his cloak as started to walk off the platform, leaving Kitub on his own. Like he said, they needed to split up and recon. It was more of privilege than a chore for Rotsen since it gave him time away from Kitub.

In his train of thought he walked in the shadows of the shops and buildings, making sure his detection level was low. He had to look for any signs of the Black Hand, meaning their logo. It was a simple black hand with white outlining with a open eye in the center. It wasn't going to be hard to find. It would, however, to find the entrance.

Rotsen bit his tongue as he knelt deeper in the shadows as he saw two figures enter the streets. They were both tall and dressed in a dark brown cloaks. Their hoods were drawn up so their faces were covered. Thankfully the Beater didn't need to see their faces to see the logo plastered on their cloaks.

The player fixed his gloves as he arose. Once he knew they were out of ear shot he jumped onto the side of the building, climbing to the roof, getting a good view of the other two players. Rotsen continued to hop from roof to roof as he fallowed them, staying a building behind them. The Beater took notice of the town square they were approaching. It would expose him too much if he kept it up, meaning he'd have to let them go and catch up with them once they passed.

As Rotsen landed on the last building he stopped and grabbed his daggers, turning around and blocking an attack. He lowly grumbled as he saw a figure covered in a gray cloak grit their teeth. The figure was about his height, meaning it wasn't that tall, and the only signs of human life he could see was their mouth, arms covered in a black material and two locks of blonde hair, one was dyed red while the other was red.

The figure grumbled back as they drew back their katana and tried to attack him again. Rotsen continued to block with his daggers, stopping the attacks in either mid swing or cutting them off completely. When yellow energy covered the figure's katana Rotsen knew it was time to stop this. He caused both his daggers to be immersed in dark blue energy and countered their attack, causing their katana to fall out of their hands, allowing an opening for him to hold one dagger at their throat and using his other hand to hold the figure close so they wouldn't struggle out of the hold.

The figure let out a frightened squeak as their hood fell off, causing Rotsen to take a double take. He looked over the situation, getting both a better view of the figure and their position. The attacker in his hold was a blonde girl, shutting her eyes tight, waiting for death to come. Her hair was tied into two long pigtails, with both ends having been dyed. The Beater was able to tell this player wasn't a member if the Black Hand. The answer came from both her reaction to death and her armor not bearing any guild symbols.

He let the female player go, drawing back his daggers and loomed over her. She was knelt down, gasping for air and holding both her hands at her throat, not believing what just happened.

She was brought back when he lowly asked, "Why are you fallowing me?"

She swallowed hard, trying to find her voice as she looked up, trying to look as tough as possible. "H-how couldn't I? It's obvious your a member of the Black Hand, and I want revenge on you all!"

The Beater sighed as he opened one of his hands, revealing the Laughing Coffin logo on his palm. "Get it right, idiot. I'm a member of Laughing Coffin."

The color from the girl's face started to drain as she realized she attack the wrong person, and knowing that she could die for real now. She tried her best to stay calm and keep the little control of the conversation she had, wanting to turn it all around.

"S-sorry mister. I guess I should apologize. But anyways, I should go. I got a problem of my own to fix, but what am I saying, its not like a cold killer player like you would ever help a poor defenseless person like me."

Rotsen's eye's widen as she finished. She thought she got a good grip on him with her deception skills, but really it was the exact opposite. Several words started to echo his mind as flashbacks of a certain boss battle field him mind. The words being "I'm sorry," and "cold killer."

"What's wrong little girl!?" The Beater asked in a tone that couldn't be described as urgent or painful, but possibly both?

The girl ignored his comment about her size and answered. "Just a simple story of revenge of a fallen comrade." The Beater raised an eyebrow as he finished, wanting her to clarify. "Alright, alright. I want revenge on that guild for killing my friends. We were in a guild together and a rival guild paid them to try and kill us all off. I was the last to survive and so I'm here to seek them out and slice every last member's heads off! Or just the leader. Either one is good. What's even better is that I know where it is. Only thing is that I need some fire power. And since you were able to counter my undefeated skills, I suppose I can give you the honor to help me."

Rotsen's eye twitched as he listened, getting a too of a reminder of a certain red head he knew. He did however put up with it when he heard her mention about the entrance. He quickly weighed his options, seeing a good chance of all of this turning out in his favor.

"Fine. I'll help. Just take me to the entrance."

"Wait, seriously? No pay? No death threats of me leaving you alone? No test for me to prove myself to you!? What's your angle!?" She whispered shouted into his ears, making him start to regret his choice to help her.

"None of your business. If you want me to help then take me to the entrance now or I'm off."

The player sighed, knowing now they wasn't anyway to figure it out now. She held out a hand to him and smiled. "Names Midnight. What's yours?"

Rotsen eyed the hand. After several weeks of being with the Laughing Coffins he learned not to trust others so easily. He slowly reached for it and shook the hand, also helping her up as he shook it. "Rotsen."

"Grudgingly to meet you Rotsen. Now, fallow me!" Midnight shouted as she picked up her Katana and ran off towards the right, completely opposite from where the two Black Hand members were walking towards.

The Beater sighed as he ran after the girl, quickly looking around to see if they didn't draw any attention. When he knew the coast was clear he ran after her, hoping nothing out of hand will happen.

-:-

"Stay down," Rotsen muttered to the girl. He used a hand to pull her down, closer to the roof. He didn't want them both to be easily discovered and right now she was starting to test his patience.

Midnight grumbled as she knelt down next to the Beater. They were knelling above a back entrance to a general goods shop. There was a guard armored in bronze armor, holding the Black Hand symbol on his chest. He held a broadsword at his side as he stood. It was obvious he didn't like standing there, guarding a door from the possibilities of intruders or such.

Rotsen drew out one of his many disposable daggers, along with a small jar. He popped the lid open as he selected the substance. As his finger glowed he traced his finger on the disposable dagger. Before Midnight could ask what he was doing he threw the dagger. It pierced through the air at immense speed. It pierced through the guards armor, causing him to stumble and fallow with a low thud.

His health bar could be seen as they both jumped down, showing he lost half his health and that he was paralyzed. Rotsen paid no attention to the guard as he opened the door, waving a hand for Midnight to fallow. They both entered the back of the general store, seeing bottles of food, liquids, and other materials. The walls were filled with shelves from both food to alchemy to leather working supplies and material.

Each step the Beater took didn't cause the wooden floor beneath them to creak. As for the female player, it softly moaned with each step her leather boots made. She fallowed him towards the back, where shop owners' office would normally be. As they walked Rotsen's eyes scanned the area, making sure there wasn't going to be any surprises.

He raised a hand, causing Midnight to halt. In front of them was a dark painted wooden door, with a sign having a boar's head painted on it. Rotsen knelt down to the knob, peering into the key hole. He grinned as he stood up, mumbling for her to hear.

"Level four bronze lock. Irritating to the begging level rouges and thief's to pick and break into. Gives even experienced players trouble if they don't focus on their daggers and put their mind set on just speed."

"Congratulations, your geek," Midnight mumbled under her breath as she crossed her arms, her patience slowly depleting. "So what now? Are you gonna pick the lock in under record time or something? Or maybe there's a special key from a mini boss you have."

The Beater chuckled as he peered back to her. "Here's some advice; no game is ever perfect. Meaning there is always bugs in the system." As he finished his statement he drew out his daggers, causing the dark blue energy to engulf them. He flipped them so their hilts were pointed forward. He thrust them both onto the door, causing the door to fall off it's hinges and crashing onto the floor.

Midnight peered past him, seeing the silhouette of a desk, chests, and shelves. She patted his back, mumbling to him as she looked for the torches. "Way to make an entrance."

Rotsen chuckled as he drew his daggers back, blinking several times as Midnight lit several torches. The room itself was made of dark shaded wood. with the Black Hand symbol burned onto the back wall. The shelves matched, all holding jars of semi-rare and expensive materials, along with scrolls and books. The desk in the middle sat alone with a large leather chair. Paper and several other booklets were scattered along it with ink containers and quills.

The Beater walked over to the desk as Midnight dug through the chests, as if something was calling out to her. His beat was on gold and other materials. Rotsen hovered himself over the papers, seeing they were mostly just supply reports for the shop. That was until one was written differently from the rest. He scanned the paper, seeing it was titled, "**S.S.A. REPORTS"** and was connected to several other folders.

He picked them up, opening the folders. In them showed pictures of child players, all under the age of thirteen or so. It listed birth dates, age, weight and physical attributes. This cause the Beater to ponder on the files until he scanted further down the files, seeing prices on them all. His eye's widen as he laid the papers down, seeing dozens of photos and files, trying to see what was pulling them all together and why the Black Hand wanted with children players. That was until it started to connect as he scanned the front of the folders and the address book that hung to the corner of the desk.

He looked over S.S.D. and found the full name and last they reported. **"Sex Slave Auctioning. November 30th, 2023. Over twenty sold, making Ten Gold pieces." **The air in the Beater's lungs escaped him as he dropped the book down, reality starting to hit him hard.

"T-this... this is sick..." Rotsen mumbled, grabbing Midnight's attention. She peered over to him as she was looking over a rare lance. She dropped it and walked over to him, wanting to see what he just saw.

As her eye's scanned over everything on the table she gasped, covering her mouth. "My god..."

Rotsen's eye's dilated as he detected something. He looked up as he yelled. "Get out here! Show yourselves! Or is the Black Hand this cowardly!?"

The Beater grunted as he threw the papers down to the floor, causing Midnight to flinch. He gritted his teeth as he walked out of the office and into the general store. Before them was over seven players, all armed to the teeth with different types of weapon and armor. Behind them was a female player clad in orange ropes with the Black Hand logo plastered on her chest. By her side was a silver lance. She had long blonde hair tied back in a long braid. Her blue eyes were pinned on the Beater, showing nothing but cold and teasing eyes, almost like a cat's eyes when they stock their pray.

"My, my, its quite an honor to have a leading member of Laughing Coffin here in my little shop." Her voice was silky and smooth, reminding the Beater of a certain member her knows. "Seems you have quite an interest in my work."

Rotsen scoffed, eying her closely. "Work. Is that what you call it? Selling kids to pedophile players?" He started to laugh, covering his face with his right hand. "You all... are just... so sick... and pathetic..."

"Laugh all you like, were still one of the most feared orange guilds on the lower floors."

"Oooo," The Beater mocked, recovering from his laughing fit. "Mighty impressive! You can frighten players that think slimes are terrifying!"

Midnight mumbled under her breath, catching the Beater's ear. "Have you seen their eyes? They have no souls!"

"Ah, so quick with the snark. Of course that's all you really have going on is there? A witty retort to distract everyone from from what you really are; a sad, lonely little boy with no one who loves him. Someone so dead inside he'd use a survivor from one of my jobs as bait."

"Shut the fuck up," Midnight ordered loudly, growing very angry with the leader. "Its bad I have to listen to you speak and go on and on, not drawing into my urges to kill you, but accusing of someone to be exactly like you is just so ridiculous."

"Oh no, she's right," Rotsen said loudly, catching her off guard. "I would so do that."

"WHAT!?" Midnight asked in anger and surprise, her eyes now glued on him.

"And to top it all off," the leader said, catching their attention back to her. "You play The Tough Guy; this invincible worrier you can never hope to be in the real world. Getting stuck in this game must be the best thing that ever has happen to you. But there is one thing this game will never let you hide, something you can never escape; your imperfect form, your physical appearance that will always cause others to never trust you and dislike you with one look."

Rotsen was suck back into laughter, covering his face with his right hand again. Midnight eyed him in worry, wondering if the Black Hand leader really did get into his head.

"Looks like my work here is done. I do so enjoy our chat but I really must be off. We'll be taking your inventory now, if you don't mind."

"OH REALLY!?" Rotsen asked loudly, having a crazed look in his eye. The covering in his face allowed the cloak that covered his face to fall and allowing his untamed hair to drip onto his face, only allowing one of his eyes to be exposed. "YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN DO IT!?"

"Oh, I believe with this many men, you'll both be down in a minute." As she spoke the other members took a step towards them, readying their weapons.

"Don't worry Rotsen," Midnight mumbled, drawing out her katana. "I'll help you out."

"Aw that's adorable," The Beater said aloud, patting her head. "You think they're a threat. Well you just sit tight, the shows about to start."

As he finished talking to her he took several steps towards them all, hanging his head low so his face could not be seen as he continued to laugh in a insane tone, causing them men to take a step back.

"Uh, boss," one of them said as he looked back to her. "This guy is a member of Laughing Coffin, and you did said he was a top member. Are you sure you want us to mess with this guy?"

As Rotsen drew out his daggers the leader started to assure her men. "Please, the boy's all talk. And now that I've broken him he's not even that anymore. He's nothing but a gibbering mess that's clinging to straws."

"Ooo, another one of your amazing theories!" The Beater called out, raising his head slightly. "Tell you what, I'll give you the first shot. See how that goes."

Silence filled the room as another armed member spoke to her. "Boss I think this might be a trap."

"Enough, your all level 28 and there's seven of you! I think you got this! Now kill him!"

With that their weapons glowed into a rainbow of colors as they ran towards the Beater, slicing, stabbing, and hitting him as they got to him, all jumping back to give the others room to attack and not hit each other.

Midnight's hand started to tremble as she saw his health bar slowly go down. She drew her blade as she started to speak to herself and weigh her options. "My god, I was hoping this wasn't going to come to this. Looks like its up to me to save his a... wait what?"

She blinked several times as she saw his health bar go from a quarter empty to one hundred percent full. As they started to slow down the attacks and stop to catch their breath they all knelt down to the ground or to their knees, taking a breather.

"Ow, you all must be really out of shape. That or the game transposes your original physical and medical features and transferred them to you."

"What are you idiots doing!? Quite fucking around and kill him!"

"I don't understand!" One of the men shouted as he stood back up. "We threw everything at him! How is he still standing!?"

"HOW!? Well it's really simple, something all gamers should know. You see, yeah fucking slut, you think you got me all figured out, but there's one thing you didn't count for; my numbers are bigger than yours!" As he said that he exposed his player title, showing his health points, name, and level, exposing that he was level forty. The room filled with gasps as he continued. "Funny really, get to a high enough level and your basically untouchable to anything under you. My health replenishes faster than you can take. We can do this all night and you would still get nowhere close to killing me. But I got good news; you see, there's no need to wonder where your God is. _Because he's right here... and he's fresh out of mercy."_

The room was silent as they all looked at him and towards their leader. She grunted as she took a defensive stance, drawing out her lance. "Way to prove my point, kid! Lording over your states like your some kind of God! Your strength is nothing but an illusion to cover,"

Before she could finish Rotsen ran to unbelievable speeds, throwing four disposable daggers each at every man, killing them all. He then stood in front of the leader, his daggers deep into her stomach and chest.

He glared at her as he spoke softly to her. "I'm getting really tired of your first year of psychological school shit."

Her eyes widen as she coughed up red code, her health bar slowly going down. She struggled to speak but she managed. "Enjoy this while you can, this'll be the deepest you'll ever get into a women."

She drop her lance as she burst into code, dying from the blood loss. He sheath his daggers, sighing as he spoke softly. "Sad. She spent her last seconds in life mocking someone that just doesn't give two flying fucks."

He looked back over to Midnight. She gave him a confused and fearful look as she tried to say something. "Are you alright?"

"H-how could you do this? I mean, I thought you lost it, I thought she broken you!"

The Beater scoffed, shaking his head lightly. "As if. That stuff only happens to a small number of people. It only works if she does that to a person that cares about their image. I just don't care about other people's opinions on me. I only care if they have tunnel vision, like her."

He started to walk towards the exit as he purposefully dropped the Laughing Coffin logo card. He was about to leave when Midnight called for him. "Wait, where are you going?"

"To base. My work is done here."

"Wait!" She grabbed his arm, making him stop in his tracks. He looked down to her, seeing her face sweat from tension that once filled the room. "C-can I come with? Can I be a member too?"

Rotsen eyed her, as if she was crazy. He jerked his hand free from her grasp as he brought his hood back up. "Trust me, you don't want to be apart of it."

As he said that she watched him walk out of the shop. He stood in the cold air as he saw the sun start to rise. He shook his head before climbing atop the roof, running towards the teleporter. He didn't have time to find Kitub. He needed to leave the scene of the crime.

As he ran he gripped onto his stomach, feeling an aching feeling as he remembered the conversation he and the Black Hand leader had. It reminded him so much of the fight he had with Vulgar, how he tried to kill him, how he stabbed him in the stomach, not killing him but wounding his spirit. This was going to take a lot more time to get over.

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><p><strong>AN: What'd you think of his chapter? Love it? Hate it so much you'd pay me to stop? Leave a review for me to know if you like it or hated it.**

**Also, remember if you do like it and want it to continue then leave a review, fallow, or a favorite. I'm not a mind reader so please let me know.**

**Till next time!**


	6. Chapter 6: Merry Christmas

**A/N: Here is my early Christmas gift to you, my little readers! Merry Christmas!**

**Thank you to Jigoku Kara no Koneko and qweenashlyfox for favoring and fallowing this story! And thank you to a nameless Guest, Goran, and Amazing for leaving a review!**

**Now on with the story!**

As the digital sun started to rise above the horizon a dark figure walks off a inn. He sighed as he raises the cloak's hood as people started to walk out of their homes, inns, and shops. The streets were busy filled with people zooming in and out of shops, all trying their best not to fall from frozen snow, littering the town. It was Christmas Eve, a time for family, gift giving, and getting drunk on your ass. Or at least that's what Rotsen thought.

He thought it was sad for the players still alive in this horrible game. They were stuck here while their family is out in the real world, having a real Christmas, without them. But bitterly they all saw a bright side to the horrible holiday. They had friends, lovers, and actual family members in the game. Those few get to have the spiritual and warm times with those special people dear to their hearts. And Rotsen? Sadly, he does not.

He sighed as he thought about it, knowing well enough to take advantage of this horrible day. It was obvious, all his loved ones were in the real world, and the members of Laughing Coffin were not his friends or even family. Not to mention his old guild, true the others were his friends but Vulgar would kill him on the spot if he ever saw him again. The only one he ever had a connection to, in this game, was Liz. But she's nowhere to be found.

As Rotsen was walking down the snowy path someone caught his eye. It was a little girl with rich brown hair tied into two small pigtails. Her eyes were a light shade of red, matching her armor. She had a white blouse cladding under her cloak, along with black combat boots and black leather pants. She stood at the side of the shops, grabbing multiple player's arms, as if begging them for help.

Rotsen tried his best not to look at the girl as he continued to walk down his path. Right as he passes her he thought he was in the clear. That was until he over heard someone talking to her. He stopped, listening in.

A masculine voice loomed over her with power, making his worry. "Hey there little girl, why are you all alone on the streets?"

Her voice was shaky and uneasy. She was scared and it was obvious. "N-no reason."

"Well, you don't have to be alone anymore. Why not come with me?"

The Beater's eyes widen as he heard his voice, deep and dark, seeing the meaning behind his words. He quickly turned around, now entering the conversation. He saw the girl was shaking, as if she knew the man from before. The man was tall, looking like he was from Asian decent. His armor covered him from head to toe, showing only his face. It was made of iron and so was his sword and shield, latched to his back.

"I'm sorry but it is there a problem here?" The Beater asked in a monotone voice, swishing his cloak to show his daggers.

The man eyed him as he looked between his hidden face and his daggers. After a few moments the man huffed, straightening up. "Nothing, kid." And with that the man left them with a deep scowl and foul look in his eyes.

Once he was gone Rotsen hunched over the little girl, now noticing that she was a head shorter than him, pushing back his hood and his hair behind his ear. It was starting to get out of control when December rolled over. It was just barely touching his shoulders and somewhat draping over his face, much like when it was slightly untamed.

"You okay, kid?"

She slowly shook her head, trying to figure out if the Beater was going to hurt or not. After a few seconds Rotsen took it as his cue to leave. As he mumbled his good bye she grabbed his hand, stopping him.

"Wait! Uh, is it okay if you help me with something?"

Rotsen's eye slightly twitched, obviously not wanting to. He noticed it, realizing his action. He remembered back he would have no problem with helping someone, but now for some reason he feels irritated. He brushed it off and slipped his hand out of her grip, not bothering to hunch over.

"Depends on what it is."

"Well, you see... I got this problem on the second floor. It's a, a... Mini Boss! Rumor has it that a large number of gold is dropped. I need some help. We'll split the loot fifty, fifty!"

Rotsen kept a front as he listened, seeing her nerves and uneasiness. He knew she was hiding something, but what? He knew if it was going to be an ambush he could easily escape, and if she needed help with something she can't say out loud in public then maybe it'll be good to help out.

"Alright, lead the way."

The little girl's face then lighten up like a Christmas tree as she cheered and jumped, running ahead of him. Once she realized he hadn't started running she ran back to him, causing him to mentally chuckle.

"Oh, sorry about that, I'm Silica."

She held out a small hand out to the Beater, both having second thoughts on trusting one another in a hand shake. A moment passed until Rotsen shook it, his hand was unnoticed bigger than Silica's by only a few inches, making the Beater upset again about his size.

"Names Rotsen."

Silica let go of the American's hand, smiling as she did so. "Then c'mon , that uh, mini boss isn't going to wait for us!"

She started to run down the path again, this time with Rotsen running after her. He couldn't help but feel a pang of joy as he ran behind her. He couldn't exactly tell why but he had a general idea.

-:-

"That's the entrance right there." Silica answered, pointing at a cave covered in vines.

They were already on the second floor and he was surprised to see the emptiness of players. The only people on the floor were NPC's. Not to mention how easily she was able to find the entrance was suspicious to him, including how she insisted for her to be a few steps ahead of him, as if she was keeping an eye out for players.

Rotsen nodded as he idly walked into the cave, pushing the vines away. He knew this wasn't a mini boss entrance. It was obvious for him because he knew every entrance for them, after all he did get over half the mini bosses on the second floor.

This cave however was dark, cold, and damp. Stalagmites and stalactites littered the cave. Thanks to the Beater's perks he was able to see much better in the dark than most players. Thanks to this he was able to notice two players walking towards them when they were halfway into the cave.

They were ahead of them and there was a cubbyhole in the wall beside them, big enough to fit them both. Rotsen acted fast, pulling Silica close to him as he covered her mouth to keep her from making any sounds and using the other to pull her with him into the crack. He felt her tense as she was suddenly jerked into the hole. She was about ready to pull out her own dagger and stab the Beater in the stomach, not knowing what he was exactly doing, but she stopped herself, now seeing two figures in the darkness in front of them.

To Silica all she could see was two large figures dressed in cloaks, but the Beater saw more. He saw the dim bronze color they were, but he took major noticed of the logo on their backs. The Black Hand.

He started to sense up, gritting his teeth to keep himself under control. He knew there were probably still Black Hand supporters but he couldn't stand them. Whenever he was out either on missions or on his days off they were constantly after him, all dying by either his hands or the game.

Once he knew they were out of the cave and out of ear shot he pushed Silica out of the crack but kept her in his grip. He had one hand over her chest, just above her developing breasts, and the other holding his gold dagger to her throat. She squeaked in surprise, obviously scared out of her mind.

"You have ten seconds to explain why the you just led me to the Black Hand before I give you something worse than a Game Over."

Silica swallowed hard, trembling hard as she tried to collect her thoughts. It was obvious to Rotsen he was creating pain by just keeping her in the hold, but he didn't care. He wasn't going to die to the hands of the Black Hand, especially because he fell for such simple bait.

"Answer now!" Rotsen hissed as he pressed his dagger onto her throat, making sure to prick her a little, making her lose a little but of health.

"I-I needed help,"

"Bull shit," he dug slightly deeper, making her lose more health.

"R-re-really, I needed help,"

"For what, luring me in and get paid several gold for it?" he was mustering all the control he had not to easily let his hand just finish her. He wanted answers, and he wasn't liking how it was all going.

"To help kids like me!" She yelled in a whisper, knowing well not to blow their cover. She was on the verge of tears as her eyes were glassy and darting to her feet, the blade, and her health bar that was almost to half. "T-there kidnapping little players, six to fourteen! I saw them kidnap some when I was out grinding. I knew I was no match to help them but I couldn't wait around to get strong enough and I didn't want to die trying! I'm sorry!"

Rotsen's eye's couldn't be seen, all thanks to his long hair, getting in his face again. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, but the aura he was giving off was obvious. He quickly pushed Silica off him, making sure to sheath his blade first. As she fell onto the floor she squeaked again, grabbing onto her throat, surprised she was speared. As she stayed down Rotsen placed a health potion next to her, making her look up to his hair covered face.

"Drink it. And leave."

"W-what!? I can't just let you do this on your own!" She cried out in a whisper, clutching to the potion.

"I said leave. I don't want another death on my hands."

"A... another?" Silica asked, looming up to Beater. He didn't mean for her to hear that last part, it was meant as a reminder for himself.

He clenched his fist, feeling a familiar pain in his stomach again. "Yes, another. Now leave."

"Wait, I want to know. Did someone close to you die in this game?" She gave him two large eyes as she stood up, obviously intrigued now.

"They weren't close. He was close to someone though. Someone that loved him." He fought back the urge to grab a hold of his stomach. It was starting to get over whelming for him.

"Can you tell me? Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

Rotsen peered to both sides of the cave, indicating that there was no one. He sighed, seeing her eyes again. He knew those kinds of eyes. Puppy dog eyes. He couldn't resit that.

He cleared his throat, trying to keep his voice steady as he started the tale. "It was a long time ago. I was a part of a small guild. One day we were fighting a boss without the leader. He was trapped outside. We were fighting and... Hinata was arrogant and..." He swallowed hard, keeping himself under control. "He was killed by the boss. I then killed it out of rage, after he died in my arms. After that his brother was mad. He blamed me and tried to kill me, stabbing me straight in the stomach. It didn't kill me but it sure did take a huge chunk out of my health. He loved his brother so much he tried to kill me, blaming me for his death that I had no control over. Love makes people do stupid stuff. That's why I don't any chances with you. You have to leave now. I'll handle everything on my own."

_On my own... _The Beater thought _... always..._

Over the silence Silica grabbed his hand, catching him by surprise. She looked up to him with glassy eyes. She could tell the pain Rotsen was feeling from the memory, from the wound that would never truly heal.

"It wasn't your fault. Like you said, love makes people do stupid things. Plus your already stuck with me because I'm not leaving you, someone's gotta keep an eye out for you. And how come you wanted to help me after, y'know."

Rotsen sighed, realizing he had to tell the truth on this one. "Almost in redemption. I want to do something good for once. That and..." he narrowed his eyes, going to a mush small whisper. "You remind me of my sister..."

Silica couldn't help but smile as she heard the whisper. "Excuse me, but you need to speak louder?"

The American sighed, speaking normally. "You remind me of my sister. When she's scared and when she needed my help for stuff."

Silica's cheeks grew red as he finished, getting slight butterflies in her stomach. She coughed them away, trying to get Rotsen's gaze off from the floor. He looked down to her with content eyes.

"Just give me some orders and I'll do it, no question. Other than telling me to leave."

The Beater chuckled, patting her head, despite her silent retorts. He couldn't remember the last time he felt a certain warmth in his chest. It felt...

Nice

-:-

Rotsen hugged the wall next to Silica as they watched over the guard railing. As they continued their valiant quest the cave's walls quickly turned from rock to metal. Torches hung on the walls and the smell of digital semen, sweat, and blood quaffed the air, making the Beater's nose ache. Over the railing they were atop of was over twenty feet from the ground below. Stairs wrapped under it, leading straight to a nightmare to pure soul players.

The ground floor was filled with over dozens of both Black Hand members and the S.S.A. guild. They were another small orange guild that dealt with thievery mostly, or at least on the surface they were. A orange player, Falcon, was their leader. A large, fat man in his mid thirties with long and oily black hair that covered his face, only revealing his large crooked mouth and thick glasses. He specialized in defense and alchemy, cladding in heavy steel armor, consisting of a chest plate, leggings, and boots. His signature steel shield and mace both bore the S.S.A. logo, being an inverted rams head screaming its lungs off.

The ground was filled with the S.S.A. workers, either hauling children slaves into cramp rooms in the back, or were sitting in small desks reading over guild mail. The mail were mostly letters filled with pay for a slave. They called any of the handlers over to fetch a certain child and send them to a certain place. Others guarded the back doors where the children were stored or by Falcon's throne. Falcon sat in large seat on the far end of the main floor, with a little girl that looked no more than eleven, chained to his seat and boring only rags. He had a lazy grin as he continued to look over his work. It disgusted Rotsen as he watched his smile stay, unlike his hand where it wondered onto his personal slave.

Rotsen swallowed in disgust as he guided Silica back, kneeling down to her to explain his plan. As she listened closely, she also watched him as he opened in inventory, now holding a black cloak that bore his guild logo.

As he put on the Laughing Coffin cloak he took off his personal cloak, handing it to Silica. "Put this on. It's a rare piece of armor that'll make you almost invisible to them. Stay quite and guide those kids out of here."

"Okay Mr. Rotsen." She nodded as she spoke, trying her best to re-size the cloak to fit her small body. "But what about you? You never told me what your gonna do."

The Beater avoided eye contact with her as she spoke, knowing if he told her everything she wouldn't leave. "I'm gonna give you cover. No matter what happens, you have to promise that you won't come back and help. You need to save yourself and those kids. Understand?"

Silica slowly nodded, understanding the American completely, still feeling unsure. He sighed, glad she was going to do what was told. Right before he stood up he was pulled down by Silica, wrapping her small arms around his neck and burring her face into his chest, embracing him.

"Just be safe." She whispered so softly that Rotsen could barely hear, even with his perks. He frozen for a second before slowly returning the hug, obviously caught off guard. It felt both odd and right for him to hug Silica back. It reminded him so much of his sister back home. When she would run to him to fight off bullies or thanking him for jumping over the fence to retrieve one of her toys.

"I will..." Rotsen promised, swallowing his feelings before letting her go and drawing his hood. As he did so he pulled out over dozens of his disposable daggers. He ran towards the railing and jumped over it, throwing four at a time at five guild members, killing them. He stood on a broken desk, pointing his dagger at a confused guild leader.

"Falcon!" He yelled, pointing Nature's Dagger at the over weight man. "Your disgusting black market is over! As a high class member of Laughing Coffin I ask for you to decide either swift death or slow execution!"

The guild leader groaned in displeasure, as if this sort of thing happens on a weekly basses. He raised a meaty finger at the Beater, speaking in a deep and slurred voice. "Get 'em!"

Five guards left their posts as they towards him, all shouting before they were quickly silenced by Rotsen's swiftness, killing them all. One tried to slice him in the back but he quickly countered, his blade glowing electric blue as he did so, knocking the white man off balance before stabbing him.

As he did so three more spear wielders threw their weapons, all hitting their target. Rotsen stood still, unfazed. He pulled all three spears out, causing him to lose a quarter of his health before throwing them all back, impaling two in the chest and one in the back as he tried to run away.

As he did so he heard Falcon roar in anger, ordering one of his men to stop Silica from opening the doors. The American had to give it to Silica, he thought she wasn't going to last long but she managed. Rotsen acted fast, throwing three disposable daggers at the leather armored man, stabbing him by his side, causing him stumble, causing the poison in them to finish him off.

"It's over Falcon," Rotsen yelled, hood still drawn over his head. "Your out matched! All your men have been disposed of!"

"Oh have they?"

The Beater's eye's widen as he heard a familiar squeak. He turned to Silica, seeing her in a familiar hold he held her in earlier. The man that was doing so was the same man from earlier. He had a dark grin on his face as he looked at the American.

"What's wrong boy? Surprise I made a last minute entry?"

"Silica!" Rotsen yelled, pulling out a few of his daggers, ready to throw them. Right as he arched his arm back he felt something prick his sides.

He looked down to his side and saw a small dagger, lodged into him. He pulled it out, looking at the smug face of Falcon before looking at his health bar. A poison icon stood next to his health bar, draining it. His healing factor however countered it, making the poison ineffective in killing. However it was successful in canceling out his healing factor.

He ignored it as he threw his knifes, all landing on the mans face, catching them all by surprise. Rotsen yelled at Silica to get out of the cave but she didn't listen. Instead she kicked the man, causing him to fall and ran to the main panel to the doors, smashing it with a fallen mace on the ground.

"NO!" The large blob of a man yelled as all the doors start to open, releasing all the children in rags.

Silica yelled over their screams, telling them to head for the stairs. As Falcon stood up Rotsen threw another dagger at his personal slave. It hit her chains, causing them to disintegrate into code, releasing her. Before he could get his hands on the little girl a dagger pierced throw his hand, causing him to lose a small amount of health points, giving the girl an open window to run away.

"This ends now, kid!" He yelled as he grabbed his shield that rested agents his seat. He roared a mighty battle cry as he pulled his mace from his side, ready for battle.

Rotsen squatted down to an attack position, daggers drawn and pointed down his forearms. A moment passed before Falcon charged at him, as did the Beater. They both meet at the center, dagger clashing agents shield. It started off like that, Rotsen slashing at the shield and trying to leap behind or beside him, trying to get around the obstacle.

It wasn't until Falcon tried to knock out Rotsen with his mace. The Beater took this window of opportunity and blocked the attack. He threw the force back, causing him to stumble back. As he did this Rotsen jumped atop of his shield, ready to stab his beady little eyes out. He was surprised however when the pervert black his attack with his mace, causing him to fly back.

Rotsen landed onto his feet, feeling irritated. He was caught off guard again when he saw Falcon run at, shield before him, acting like a bulldozer. The Beater was sent flying back and on the floor. He was about to get up when he felt a pain in his stomach. Air left his lungs as he lost health. Falcon slammed his mace atop his ribcage, dealing noticeable damage. As the American tried to block he was beaten to the punch again, getting the oxygen beaten out of him.

Falcon laughed as he slammed his mace down on Rotsen for the fourth time. Thanks to his poison and knock back ability on the mace it was hard for the Beater to recover. He was already left with a quarter of health by the time he was hit for the sixth time.

He was angry, both at Falcon and himself, but mostly on himself. He was angry on how he almost killed Silica, how he got her endangered and how he was about to let himself die to a pedophile. What mostly ate away at him was how he never got to know if Liz was still alive. He was angry that he broke a promise to her, that he wouldn't die.

That's when his anger peaked. His own words echoed in his ears when he first meet Midnight, how no game was ever perfect. He bit his lip as he broke through the knock back ability, fighting the code. Pain surged through his brain, the NerveGear trying to process what was going on in his body in the real world. He felt a tingling sensation, as if he somewhat gained his mobility in his arms. He pushed through the pain as he raised his daggers, blocking the hit.

His blades were just an inch above his stomach, as was the mace. The two players had a stalemate for power until Rotsen broke through. Falcon was launched back, failing onto the floor thanks to the force. Right before he could get up he stop, feeling a searing pain in his stomach and throat. His eye's widen when he saw the beaten up figure of Rotsen, breath hard, holding onto both dagger's piercing him.

Rotsen didn't brake eye contact until Falcon's body disintegrated, letting Rotsen fall onto the floor with a thud, exhausted. He laid on the floor, breathing hard, wincing from the pain he was in. He was down on about ten percent of his health. It kept depleting to three percent before going back up to ten, the poison still in effect. He would have laid there forever if it wasn't for a little girl.

"Rotsen!" Silica yelled as she ran from the stairs and down to him. "Are you okay!? What do you need!?"

"I'm fine, Silica," The Beater half lied, getting himself up, and then falling back down. Silica had to help him up, surprising herself.

She took it upon herself to lead Rotsen out of the cave and into the outside world. As they stumbled out snow started to fall, slowly touching the floor. Rotsen laughed as Silica started to giggle, lightening the mood. That was until Rotsen her let him go.

"Silica," He groaned a little, trying to ignore the pain he was getting every few seconds. "I'd like to apologize from almost killing you back there."

"No worries Mr. Rotsen. You were angry and wanted to defend yourself. I would have done the same."

"No Silica, I mean it. I got you into a situation that almost gotten you killed. And to make it up to you I'm giving you this," Rotsen opened is inventory, selecting a special flute that held purple font. When it materialized into his hands Silica saw the whole thing. It was a small wooden flute with light blue feathers at the end of it. It memorized her as the Beater continued to speak. "This is a rare drop I gotten from a mini boss. When you need help the most use it. It'll call forth a beast to protect you and be by your side. Problem is that it's a one use only and it'll only work on the thirty-ninth floor."

"Rotsen..." Silica couldn't speak properly. She was a little over joyed by the sudden gift. Especially since he was placing it into her hands and pulling her into a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Silica."

The female player wrapped her arms around the Laughing Coffin member, almost on the verge of tears herself.

"Merry Christmas, Rotsen."

-:-

The inn room was cold and dark, and the Beater hated it. It was a few minutes to midnight, an hour when he and Silica left the S.S.A. base. Rotsen sat atop of the bed in his room. He didn't want to be at the guild when Christmas hit. He wanted to sleep peacefully for once. It was sad that he had to be at a inn to do that, but he didn't really mind. He was about ready to go to bed when he received a P.M. from Oshoku.

_"Merry Christmas to my favorite member. Look at you, it's just been over a few months and look at how far you've come in this guild. I'm proud of you. As a Christmas gift I have two things. The first is a promotion. Welcome to the Crystal rank, kid! You're still gonna be taking orders from me but not from Medusa or Kitub anymore, your their equal now. As for the second gift, its a secret that you can't tell other players. I found out you can open windows to the outside world, but only to the internet. As far as I know you can go as far as checking your email. You can't reply or open anything else. You got one shot to see the outside world, don't mess it up. The password is CIBERNET. See you next week for your next mission."  
>-Oshoku<em>

Rotsen's eyes widen as he finished reading the message. He had to check his email now, to see if his family sent anything to him. He quickly opened his menu to the search section, finding his account profile. It showed his email as a link, it was design for players to check their email when they're in the game, not needing to leave the game, but now it was rumored to be obsolete since it always appeared with an error icon.

As expected an error icon appeared, along with an option for moderators to access it. He selected it, typing in the password; CIBERNET. He was trembling when another window opened to his email account, showing he had over fifty unread emails. What caught his eyes was the one at the very top, the newest one, from his sister's email.

He hastily opened it, seeing a small video pop up. He selected it and to his disappointment there was no video, only audio available. The screen was completely black but Rotsen could hear the faint sound of the microphone hitting something. His sister always struggled with videos so that must be why he had no visual.

_"Merry Christmas, bro!" _A voice said loudly and cheerfully, catching Rotsen off guard. It was his sister's voice. She was speaking in their native tongue, English. She sounded cheerful as usual, but he could hear a hint of sadness. _"I know this is a day early, and I don't know if you can even hear this, but if you can than try to message me back you lazy ass!"_ Rotsen couldn't help but laugh, remembering his sister. She should be eleven by now, in sixth grade.

The video glitched and static could be seen on the video. It soon stopped and the Beater was about ready to tear up when he saw his sister. She had long caramel hair tied in a braid. She was a cheerleader in middle school, so she was naturally thin. Her face resembled his, round with strong cheek bones, but she had brown eyes. "This_ years Christmas is boring without you. Dad told me what happened and mom wouldn't stop crying. Were all with dad now and I'm recording this in the hospital your in. Your sound asleep, with that helmet thing on. I wrapped a scarf I got you for Christmas. It's blue and black, your favourite colors."_

As she kept talking her face changed everytime she talked. It switched from sadness to happy to just about everything. That was until she moved the camera to show him his body. He was lying in a white hospital bed. He had the NerveGear on. What really got his attention was a white and blue stripped scarf, wrapped around his neck. He was limp and thinner than normally but he looked warmer than the dark hospital room.

_"That'll keep you warm in this cold place. I got nothing else for you but another gift. It isn't physical, but it is verbal. It's a song. I know I'm not a good singer so I'm gonna hum it..."_

Rotsen's eye's started to water as he heard his sister hum lightly. He recognized that song almost instantly... Silent Night. Tears started to stain his cheeks as he kept listening, his head in his hands and his hair dangling. Once she was done singing she too started to cry, but it was only indicated by her sniffles. She didn't speak again until she calmed down.

_"...I miss you big bro... Please don't die on me... Please come back alive... Merry Christmas..."_

The audio clip ended, leaving a replay icon over her sister with a warm yet sad face, her eyes swollen. Rotsen didn't pay attention to it. He was too busy being weak. He finally gave into the pain he was feeling all month, ever since Hinata's death. It all pored out of him; pain, anger, bitterness, sadness, and regret. Tears sprinkled the wooden floor under him and his face was stained. His eyes were blotchy as he sniffled, wiping the tears from his eyes looking up to the audio clip, selecting the save option.

As he laid down on the bed he thought up of a new promise. He was going to get out of this game alive. He was going to get back to his family, and he was going to get his friends out of it as well.

**A/N: What'd you think of his chapter? Love it? Hate it so much you'd pay me to stop? Leave a review for me to know if you like it or hated it.**

**I have to admit, I had major feels when writing the ending. I think Rotsen deserved a nice Christmas, don't you think?**

**Also, remember if you do like it and want it to continue then leave a review, fallow, or a favorite. I'm not a mind reader so please let me know.**

**Till next time!**


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